Gary Neville Challenges Liverpool's £200m Strike Duo

Gary Neville has warned Liverpool’s £200m strike partnership of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak that the grace period is over – and that “being nice” will no longer be enough on Merseyside.

The pair endured a flat Premier League opener at St James’ Park, where Liverpool lost 2-1 to Newcastle. Isak completed the full 90 minutes on his first return since leaving Tyneside as the league’s most expensive player last summer. Wirtz, signed for a nine-figure fee from Bayer Leverkusen a year ago, was withdrawn just after the hour for Alexis Mac Allister.

Both had hinted at a breakthrough season with bright displays in pre-season under new head coach Andoni Iraola. On Sunday, that promise vanished in the Tyneside rain.

“They’re going to have to start playing”

Speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast, the former Manchester United defender did not hold back.

“The big thing for Liverpool is they’ve got this quarter-of-a-billion-pound front two, Isak and Wirtz and bloody hell, we’ve been kind to them,” Neville said.

“They’re going to have to start playing sooner or later or else, to be fair, they’re going to get quite a lot of criticism. For a start, they’re too nice, and if you’re going to be nice, you’d better be incredible at football.”

Neville’s sharpest criticism landed on Wirtz.

“I don’t see the tenacity in Wirtz in particular. I just see a nice player moving around the pitch, not really ever looking like he’s busting a gut to do anything.

“Now, that can happen. Sometimes players have that flow about them, but I want to put a rocket up him. I want to put a rocket up him because there’s ability there, there’s talent there, the understanding of his position.

The biggest disappointment for me [Sunday] is those two.”

Faith in Isak – but patience thinning

Neville, though, stopped short of writing them off. He has seen enough, especially from Isak’s Newcastle days, to believe there is a top-class forward still waiting to emerge in red.

“I’ve watched them both for 12 months, and I do actually have faith in them,” he said. “I think Isak’s an exceptional player and we’ve seen it.

“I never saw anybody give Gabriel and Saliba or Van Dijk and Konate a tougher time as Isak did when he played at Newcastle in a black and white shirt. I’ve seen him be devastating.

“Now Liverpool fans and his team-mates and coaching staff, they need to see that – because that’s £125m they’ve spent on him.”

The message was harsher for Wirtz, who has managed only eight league goal involvements since his high-profile switch from Leverkusen.

“And then Wirtz, he needs to sort himself out. Enough’s enough now, we’ve talked about him enough. He’s young and he’s come to a different country – and I’m all for willing him on.

“They have both had a bit of a free ride. Obviously Isak was injured last season but Arne Slot loses his job, and Wirtz has played like that, so let’s be clear, this has got me to start some real focus now.

“I can see a real player there, but can’t keep watching this stuff and he’s been subbed after an hour and they need a goal, but they’re 2-1 down, so no that’s not right.”

Wirtz “too far away” – and in the wrong places

Wirtz had looked far more dangerous in pre-season when used as a shadow striker, especially in the 3-2 defeat to Monaco two weeks before the league campaign began. At St James’ Park, he drifted deeper and wider, and Liverpool’s £100m creator never truly connected with their £125m finisher.

Neville wants that to change – fast.

“Sometimes I think he moves around too much,” he said. “Sometimes I don’t think he’s close enough to his striker, I don’t think he understands where the game’s going to be won and lost.

“When I played football and No 10s sometimes drifted too deep, or too wide, they would get a right rollicking off our manager.

“The game’s not going to be won out there, the game’s not going to be won back there, the game’s going to be won in the final third, in and around the box.

“Combining with your striker, getting crosses in, getting little passes, getting little side passes down the side of the centre-backs, being close enough to your forward so that you can combine with him. And I don’t see him combining with Isak.”

Neville believes Wirtz must almost rewire his game to think less like a playmaker and more like a partner in crime.

“I just feel like Wirtz has got to think about being involved in the build-up less and think about being a second striker. He’s got to think about his output and what he needs to do, and that is feed Isak with little passes down the side of centre-backs. He might only get the ball two or three times in that position in tight games where teams are lying deep.”

Liverpool have invested more than £200m in a front two built to terrify defences. Neville’s verdict is blunt: the time for excuses has gone. The next few weeks will show whether Wirtz and Isak can turn potential into production – or whether the scrutiny only gets louder.